All week in Frisco, the Big 12’s biggest talking points won’t stay on the field for long.
When the league gathers Tuesday at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ training facility, for its two-day football media event, the conversations around all 16 member schools will stretch well beyond depth charts and fall camp. The Brendan Sorsby fallout, playoff expansion, roster rules, money, and the race for the conference crown are all lined up to dominate the stage.
The Sorsby situation is the one that still hangs over the league.
It has been nearly four months since news surfaced about impermissible betting on college football by Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby. Since March, the case has taken on the feel of a drawn-out courtroom drama, with multiple lawsuits filed first against the NCAA and then against Texas Tech. Through it all, school officials and mega-booster Cody Campbell stayed firm in their backing of Sorsby.
Then came last month’s turn: the Big 12 filed a lawsuit in federal court, and Sorsby responded by withdrawing his lawsuit against the NCAA, ending his push to play this season. It was an ugly stretch for everyone involved and left Texas Tech’s relationships with the other 15 schools under strain.
That makes this week’s media event a fascinating test for commissioner Brett Yormark. Can he smooth things over, or does this one linger?
Another subject that keeps coming back is the College Football Playoff.
The Big 12 has already backed expanding the playoff from 12 teams to 24, and its coaches have supported the idea too, pointing to access and the chance to get more programs into the mix. But the sport is no closer to that format than it was six months ago - or even a year ago.
The roadblocks are familiar. Scheduling is one of them, especially the fear that a larger playoff would shove the semifinals and national title game deeper into February.
This season’s championship game is set for Jan. 25, 2027, already two weeks into the spring academic calendar. Moving the season start up to Week Zero could help, and so could getting rid of conference championship games, though leagues like the SEC are not eager to do that.
Then there’s the new roster landscape created by the NCAA’s age-based eligibility model, known as “5-for-5.”
For a lot of people in college athletics, the approval of the model was a welcome change. It wipes out redshirt seasons and waivers that allowed super-seniors older than 24, which should simplify roster rules. It may also slow the transfer churn, since some players could decide to stay put longer instead of jumping into the portal right away.
But there are tradeoffs. The medical hardship waiver disappears, meaning an athlete who suffers a season-ending injury no longer gets that extra year of eligibility. And without redshirt years, coaches may be more willing to throw true freshmen into action before they’re fully ready.
Money remains part of the backdrop too, and the Big 12 is thinking ahead.
The conference is in the middle of a six-year, $2.28 billion media rights agreement with ESPN and Fox Sports that runs through 2030-31, but Brett Yormark and the league have been working to build more value for the whole operation. The additions of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF in 2023, followed by Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah in 2024, gave the Big 12 more leverage for the next round of negotiations.
A new private equity deal was also expected to bring in additional revenue for the league and its members, and the conference has landed new sponsorship agreements for its championships and media days. All of it is aimed at cutting into the financial distance between the Big Ten and SEC and the Big 12.
Yormark has also suggested the possibility of splitting the media rights package, with the hope of getting a stronger overall deal for the league’s basketball inventory that, paired with football, would give the conference a bigger payoff in 2030-31.
And after all the off-field noise, there’s still the simple question of who stands on top.
Texas Tech entered the conversation as the favorite to repeat as conference champion for the first time since Oklahoma in 2019-20, but the Sorsby loss may have changed the picture a bit heading into fall camp. If the Red Raiders slip, BYU is the obvious next name in line for plenty of observers.
The Cougars finished second to Texas Tech last season and bring back 11 starters, including quarterback Bear Bachmeier and running back LJ Martin.
Houston is another team that should stay in the mix. The Cougars also return 11 starters, led by quarterback Conner Weigman, along with all-conference performers Amare Thomas at wide receiver and cornerback Will James.
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The appeal is obvious: plenty of experience is back, especially at quarterback, and the roster still has enough proven pieces to make the Cougars look like a real threat again. There are still questions to answer as camp and the season approach, but the bigger picture is hard to miss, especially with Utah also in the mix and the Nov. 7 showdown suddenly carrying more Big 12 weight than ever. [Read more 🡒]